Emotion Explained

Edmund T. Rolls

What produces emotions? Why do we have emotions? How do we have emotions? Why do emotional states feel like something? This book considers these questions, going beyond examining brain mechanisms of emotion, by proposing a theory of what emotions are, and an evolutionary, Darwinian, theory of the adaptive value of emotion.

Emotion Explained

Edmund T. Rolls

Description

What produces emotions? Why do we have emotions? How do we have emotions? Why do emotional states feel like something? This book seeks explanations of emotion by considering these questions.

Emotion continues to be a topic of enormous scientific interest. Emotion Explained describes the nature, functions, and brain mechanisms that underlie both emotion and motivation. However it goes beyond examining brain mechanisms of emotion, by proposing a theory of what emotions are, and an evolutionary, Darwinian, theory of the adaptive value of emotion. It also shows that there is a clear relationship between motivation and emotion. The book also examines how cognitive states can modulate emotions, and in turn, how emotions can influence cognitive states.
It considers the role of sexual selection in the evolution of affective behavior. It also examines emotion and decision making, with links to the burgeoning field of neuroeconomics. The book is also unique in considering emotion at several levels- the neurophysiological, neuroimaging, neuropsychological, behavioral, and computational neuroscience levels.

Emotion Explained

Edmund T. Rolls

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: the issues1.1. Introduction1.2. Rewards and punishers1.3. Approaches to emotion and motivation1.4. Outline2. The nature of emotion2.1. Introduction2.2. A theory of emotion2.3. Different emotions2.4. Refinements of the theory of emotion2.5. The classification of emotion2.6. Other theories of emotion2.7. Individual differences in emotion, personality and emotional intelligence2.8. Cognition and emotion2.9. Emotion, motivation, reward and mood2.10. The concept of emotion2.11. Advantages of the approach3. The functions of emotion: reward, punishment and emotion in brain design3.1. Introduction3.2. Brain design and the functions of emotion3.3.
Selection of behaviour: cost-benefit 'analysis'3.4. Further functions of emotion3.5. The functions of emotion in an evolutionary, Darwinian, context3.6. The functions of motivation in an evolutionary, Darwinian, context3.7. Are all goals for action gene-specified?4. The brain mechanisms underlying emotion4.1. Introduction4.2. Overview4.3. Representations of primary reinforcers4.4. Representing potential secondary reinforcers4.5. The orbitofrontal cortex4.6. The amygdala4.7. The cingulate cortex4.8. Human brain imaging investigations of mood and depression4.9. Output pathways for emotional responses4.10. Effects of emotion on cognitive processing and memory4.11. Laterality effects in human
emotional processing4.12. Summary5. Hunger5.1. Introduction5.2. Peripheral signals for hunger and satiety5.3. The control signals for hunger and satiety5.4. The brain control of eating and reward5.5. Obesity, bulimia and anorexia5.6. Conclusions on reward, affective responses to food, and the control of appetite6. Thirst6.1. Introduction6.2. Cellular stimuli for drinking6.3. Extracellular thirst stimuli6.4. Control of normal drinking6.5. Reward and satiety signals for drinking6.6. Summary7. Brain-stimulation reward7.1. Introduction7.2. The nature of the reward produced7.3. The location of brain-stimulation reward sites in the brain7.4. The effects of brain lesions on
intracranial self-stimulation7.5. The neurophysiology of reward7.6. Some of the properties of brain-stimulation reward7.7. Stimulus-bound motivational behaviour7.8. Conclusions7.9. Apostasis8. Pharmacology of emotion, reward and addiction; the basal ganglia8.1. Introduction8.2. The noradrenergic hypothesis8.3. Dopamine and reward8.4. The basal ganglia8.5. Opiate reward systems, analgesia, and food reward8.6. Pharmacology of depression in relation to brain systems involved in emotion8.7. Pharmacology of anxiety in relation to brain systems involved in emotion8.8. Cannabinoids8.9. Overview of behavioural selection and output systems involved in emotion9. Sexual behaviour, reward and brain
function; sexual selection of behaviour9.1. Introduction9.2. Mate selection, attractiveness and love9.3. Parental attachment, care and parent-offspring conflict9.4. Sperm competition9.5. Concealed ovulation and its consequences for sexual behaviour9.6. Sexual selection of sexual and non-sexual behaviour9.7. Individual differences in sexual rewards9.8. The neural reward mechanisms that might mediate some aspects of sexual behaviour9.9. Neural basis of sexual behaviour9.10. Conclusion10. Emotional feelings and consciousness: a theory of consciousness10.1. Introduction10.2. A theory of consciousness10.3. Dual routes to action10.4. Representations10.5. Discussion10.6. Conclusions and
comparisons11. Conclusions and broader issues11.1. Conclusions11.2. Decision-making11.3. Emotion and ethics11.4. Emotion and literature11.5. CloseApp A. Neural networks and emotion-related learningApp B. Reward reversal in the orbitofrontal cortex - a model

Emotion Explained

Edmund T. Rolls

Author Information

Edmund T. Rolls is Professor of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford, and a Fellow and Tutor of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He read preclinical medicine at the University of Cambridge, and now performs research in neuroscience at Oxford. His research links neurophysiological and computational neuroscience approaches to human functional neuroimaging and neuropsychological studies in order to provide a fundamental basis for understanding human brain function and its disorders. He is author of The Brain and Emotion (1999, Oxford University Press), with A.Treves of Neural Networks and Brain Function (1998, Oxford University Press), and with G.Deco of Computational Neuroscience of Vision (2002, Oxford University Press).